Meditation explained...

From www.meditationcartoons.com/meditation/peace-love-harmony-zzzz

Out there in me...

A post from Genpo Roshi, originally from his blog at http://bigmind.org/out-there-in-me/.

Student: It occurred to me that one reason the thinking mind is disowned is there are a lot of things that one would rather not think about. For example, why we have so much and thousands of babies are being born in rubbish heaps every day, and why corporations control governments that have millions of lives in their hands and their only motive is profit, or, you know, whatever it is, as well as of course the more personal matters.

Roshi: These are personal matters. We can take each of those voices, like the voice of the greed that’s behind our society or the arrogance that’s behind it, and look at those same voices within our self. Because whatever the corporation is doing, I’m doing on some smaller, miniscule level. The greed, the arrogance, the ego behind it all is within me. And even though I don’t want to look at it and I don’t want to think about these things, what I suppress will come out in my dreams, will come out in my sittings, will come out in other places. So I personally think that zazen is really allowing everything to come up, to emerge, whether we like it or don’t like it, and look at it all as long as we look at it. If it doesn’t disturb us and it just goes away by itself, absolutely fine. You know, we don’t need to cling to it either, but the two things in the way — at least as I was taught and the way I sit zazen — there are two things I watch for. One is repression, of anything, and the other is attachment to it. So I’ll attach to the good things and I’ll try to repress the bad, the negative things, the negative thoughts. Both are hindrances, both become what we call makyo, devilish obstacles or obstructions in our zazen. So I would say that having that storm come up and inviting and honoring the thinking mind is a great great thing. I mean I commend you, I think it’s great.

Student: What you said about this being personal is very true, and what I felt was that all of these things were really just me multiplied five billion times and that’s exactly why the world is messed up the way it is.

Roshi: That’s exactly it. What is out there is in me. What’s in me is out there. Microcosm, macrocosm. So, you know, the way to work with it, the way to deal with it is to look within at these things that are within me. And we start with baby steps. One step at a time with our self, and then work our way out.

Next meeting: Monday 12 September

Please note that there will be no Zen for the next two weeks - this coming Monday (29 August) is a Bank Holiday, and I will unfortunately not able to be in Northampton for the next week either (5 September), as the next day is my son's first day at 'Big School', and not something I can miss!

Hopefully as the group becomes more established - and, more practically, if we are able to find storage for all the equipment - we won't need to cancel if I'm not able to be in town, but for now there doesn't seem to be any other option.

October sesshin

Details are now finalist for the October sesshin with Tenshin Roshi and Keizan Sensei, and a flyer with all the relevant info has just been sent round (click the image to download the flyer, PDF format). This is sesshin is arguably the highlight of the calendar for the StoneWater year and is a wonderful opportunity to practice with like-minded people and have the guidance of two excellent teachers.

If you would like to attend, please email Jez Lovekin (jezlovekin@btinternet.com), early booking really helps with the organisation of these events.

Retreats, etc...

I thought I'd post here a list of the upcoming sesshin (retreats) organised for/by the StoneWater Zen Sangha. The two main retreats each year are in Crosby, one in the Spring and one in the Autumn, and people come from around the UK to sit, eat and work together in a fairly traditional Zen format. Aside from these two main events, there are many other smaller events during the year that anyone is able to attend - though it's perhaps not as easy when you factor in travel time from the middle of the UK!

I've summarised below some details for most of the upcoming retreats (more will probably be organised and details sent out on the mailing list in due course). First, though, I'd like to point to two article on the StoneWater Notes blog:

• First, Andy Tanzan Scott has a great article called About Retreats, in which he looks at some of the reasons for going on sesshin.
• Also, Ron Anzan Bell has prepared some more practical instructions that will be of use to anyone going on their first retreat.

Remember that details of all the retreats will be kept on the SWZ website at www.stonewaterzen.org/sangha/events, and if you want to ensure that you're kept up-to-date with the latest updates, ensure that you're on the national mailing list (there's also a Northampton one...).

Dates for upcoming events

A Day of Mindfulness - Liverpool

13 August 2011
A one-day mindfulness workshop in Liverpool - flyer available for download.

StoneWater Lakes Retreat with Keizan Sensei - Lake District

4-8 September 2011
The zendo at Keizan Sensei's house in the Lake District only sits about ten people, so these retreats tend to be quite intimate. Time off in the afternoon for hill walking, usually!

Autumn Sesshin with Tenshin Roshi and Keizan Sensei - Crosby Hall

23-29 October 2011
The 13th century barn at Crosby Hall Education Trust that serves as the zendo on these retreats (loads of photos from these and other retreats on the StoneWater website by the way) usually holds 50-55 people, so these are the main events of the year, and people come from all over the UK and from Europe (Sweden, Estonia and Germany recently!) to attend. Highly recommended, if you want a chance to develop your practice.

Lakes or Liverpool? TBC

21-25 November 2011
Details need to be confirmed on this retreat...

Rohatsu Retreat - Lake District

7-11 December 2011
Rohatsu is the main calendar event of the year for Western zennies... it's the annual remembrance of the Buddha's enlightenment, and is usually observed by holding an intensive meditation retreat in order to actualise the Buddha's great determination to attain enlightenment. Last year, we also had a weekend retreat in Liverpool that included a through-the-night sit, which was very well received and I hope to be able to repeat that this year.

The barn at Crosby Hall during service with Tenshin Roshi

Zazen instructions

We were talking about sitting tonight, and I came across this excellent, simple video from the Hazy Moon Zen Centre of Los Angeles...

Flyer

I was asked last week for a draft flyer, but as I said last night I'd not printed it out. Click the preview image below to see it (PDF format):

Let me know what you think - but I'm becoming quite attached to the "zeNN1" thing (I know, attachments = bad!).